Learn Japanese with Terrace House (Netflix)

Netflix and Japanese

Netflix is quite amazing. For a rather low price, you can watch a huge array of new and old TV programs and movies. Not only that, but each subscription allows you to have three accounts?!

I’m not trying to advertise Netflix here, rather I’ve only been using it a couple of weeks, so I’m still a newcomer (unlike pretty much everyone else in the world).

Anyway, I’m not in Japan right now, but I still feel like watching Japanese shows as a form of maintenance (to try and keep my memory from forgetting as little Japanese as possible). That’s when I came across a TV show called “Terrace House: Boys and Girls in the City”. Apparently, there is an American version of it, so some of you may be familiar with it.

Now, you might like reality television – romance, arguments, and cringe-worthy at every turn… Or you could be someone like me, who when they hear the word “Big Brother” think ‘what a load of old potatoes’ (that’s me keeping the blog PG).

However, Terrace House has grown on me. I actually started enjoying it – should I be feeling ashamed now?

So what’s it actually about?

The main idea of the show is simple. You move into a house that has three male members and three female members. You still work and go out whenever you feel like it, just when you come home, you’re welcomed by five other members and a house full of cameras. Many of the members sign up for the show with the idea of finding love.

Can you learn by watching?

However, the main reason I chose this program was because it came with Japanese subtitles. Your Japanese won’t improve if you watch it with English subtitles, but Japanese subtitles will give your brain that little extra push to pick up what everyone is saying. And what’s even better – all you have to do is look at the subtitles when you don’t know a word, type it into a Japanese dictionary, and bingo – you’re actually studying.

Japanese isn’t the only thing you can learn from the show though. What I’ve been finding more interesting is looking at the behaviors, gestures, and manners of each of the appearing members. I think it’s a good insight into how Japanese people are when they’re not talking to a foreigner.

Anyway, those were my thoughts on Netflix’s “Terrace House: Boys and Girls in the Big City”.